"When you listen to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Sabbath, Zeppelin...it would have ruined them!" The one thing from today's music that would have screwed up countless classic albums, according to legendary metal guitarist Zakk Wylde

Zakk Wylde on a couch next to one of his guitars

(Image credit: Future)

Living heavy metal guitar hero Zakk Wylde has discussed the writing process behind some of the iconic riffs that have defined his career - and it turns out he's a big fan of just keeping it simple.

Chatting to Metal Hammer, the Black Label Society leader and longtime guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne explains that many of the greatest riffs ever written were kept simple, and could often even be played on one string.

"When you about all the great riffs...I mean the first two songs I learned how to play on the guitar, on one string, were [Deep Purple's] Smoke On The Water and [Black Sabbath's] Iron Man," he says. "The art form of the simplicity of just coming up with something as simple as possible.

"I only give you three crayons. Let's see what you can come up with. You know what I mean? Just take everything away, let's see what you can come up with with limited resources."

Zakk Wylde: the five songs that defined my career, from Ozzy to Black Label Society | Metal Hammer - YouTube

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Wylde goes on to give some examples of classic rock and metal albums anchored by simple riffs, suggesting that they would have been tainted if they were able to be manipulated by some of the technology available to songwriters today.

"When you actually listen to all the old albums, Sergeant Pepper's..., Jimi Hendrix records, the first Sabbath album or Zeppelin's first album, you go, 'Man imagine if they had today's Pro Tools and had, you know, a hundred tracks,'" he says. "I'd go, 'Those albums wouldn't sound like they do.'

"It would have ruined them," he continues. "[Pink Floyd's] Dark Side Of The Moon wouldn't have sounded like it does if it had today's resources. If Led Zeppelin IV wasn't recorded in '71, if it was recorded today, it wouldn't have sounded the way it does, because a lot of things were either happy mistakes, or you had to be creative."

Wylde then returns to his crayon analogy, concluding: "If I only gave you a red crayon and a white crayon, then you mixed them together, you came up with pink. You created that colour by having to mix the two of them."

Zakk Wylde will be dropping more riffs when new Black Label Society album Engines Of Demolition arrives on March 27. Black Label Society play Bloodstock Open Air in August.

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Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.

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